A new state task force will examine how Ohio’s public colleges and universities can hold down costs and be more efficient.

Republican Gov. John Kasich joined college presidents at a Tuesday meeting at the Statehouse, where he signed an executive order creating the nine-member panel.

Kasich will appoint five people to the group, while legislative leaders will pick four members. The task force is expected to complete its work and issue a report by Oct. 1.

The governor’s two-year budget calls for capping tuition increases in 2016 at 2 percent and freezing tuition rates in 2017. It also would create a $120 million fund aimed at reducing accumulated student debt.

Kasich discussed other ideas in his budget and defended proposed changes to taxes and his K-12 school funding formula.

Ohio lawmakers have passed a bipartisan measure aimed at preventing youth drug abuse by requiring a guardian’s consent before a minor is prescribed painkillers.

The bill also would limit supplies of painkillers to minors to three days when another adult authorized by a minor’s parent or guardian, such as a grandparent, gives the required consent. The parent or guardian would still be required to eventually sign the consent form.

The bill was co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Stephanie Kunze, from the Columbus suburb of Hilliard. She has said the issue caught her attention when she learned about a girl who was prescribed addictive painkillers without parental consent and later abused the drugs.

Governor John signed into law a bill that expands access to a drug that can reverse a heroin overdose. WOSU reports a local substance abuse clinic supports the expansion.

Family members or friends who have a loved one addicted to heroin or opiate pain pills will now be able get naloxone. Itâ€™s a drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose.

Paul Coleman directs Maryhaven which helps rehabilitate people who struggle with substance abuse and behavioral problems. Coleman said he hopes expansion of the drug will help encourage addicts to seek treatment.

â€œIt will allow organizations such as Maryhaven, which provide recovery services to help addicts get better, to have patients because if the patient overdoses and dies obviously thereâ€™s no opportunity to provide treatment.â€

Friends and family who get the drug will only be able to administer it nasally.

The move comes as a heroin epidemic rages across Ohio. Columbus Fire medics administered naloxone more than 212 times between January and February.

Coleman said he’s pleased to see there is a growing awareness of the challenge of opiate abuse in Ohio.

â€œAnd weâ€™ve made remarkably good and remarkably early strides in fighting back against opiate use in our state,” he said. “This is simply the latest step in the journey, and of course there are more steps to come.â€

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has rolled out an ambitious election-year policy document that cuts Ohio's income tax through increases in drilling and tobacco taxes and streamlines government services for the poor and unemployed.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has rolled out an ambitious election-year policy document that cuts Ohio’s income tax through increases in drilling and tobacco taxes and streamlines government services for the poor and unemployed.

Details of the Republican governor’s mid-biennium review, or MBR, were released Tuesday. Testimony is set to begin Wednesday in the GOP-led Ohio House. The bill’s prospects amid campaign season are uncertain.

Kasich, who faces re-election this fall, proposes cutting income taxes by 8.5 percent over the next three years, taking the top tax rate to 4.88 percent by 2016. Commercial activity, cigarette and drilling taxes would rise to pay for the reduction.

He also proposes streamlining Ohio’s workforce development and poverty programs, tying all public-college funding to graduation rates and expanding vocational and dropout education offerings.

Ohio officials say they’ve received more than 17,000 applications from people seeking Medicaid health coverage through a new state website.

The online enrollment option became available Dec. 9 to eligible low-income families, along with individuals who fell under an expansion of the federal-state program for the poor and disabled. It wasn’t clear how many online applications came from those newly eligible under the Medicaid extension.

A spokesman for the state’s Medicaid department says the website has been working smoothly.

County caseworkers will have to finalize most of the initial online applications. But the state expects the enrollment process to be more automated in the coming months.

Gov. John Kasich’s administration moved forward with expanding Medicaid last fall. Coverage for the newly eligible took effect Wednesday.